Assassination, Labor Disputes and Abortion: "Nothing new under the son."

The following paragraphs are taken from an article written by Dr. Franz Pieper (LCMS President 1899-1911), at the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.

Pastor H.

In our country, labor and capital are for the most part enemies of each other. Workers join together. But they are not satisfied merely to unite. In many cases they use their union in order to harm their neighbors. They demand that workers who do not belong to their union should be given no work. To achieve this end, people often grab hold of stones, knives, revolvers, and dynamite. That is the murderous spirit of anarchy.

On the other side, the capitalists join together. But they are not satisfied merely with such unity. In many cases they use it to ruin the businesses of and trample neighbors who are not in the “trust.” That is the murderous anarchical spirit of the capitalists.

Furthermore, in recent decades, the number of children, particularly among the American-born population, has taken a dive. The chief cause is that hundreds of thousands of American women consistently murder their unborn children, with and without the consent of their husbands. This murderous spirit has become so prevalent that the well-known preacher Parkhurst [Charles Henry Parkhurst, 1842–1932] has accused a portion of American women of seeking to save the children of heathen while they murder their own progeny. This year a well-known professor of medicine admonished a class of beginning doctors that they reject abortion, which is commonly practiced.

...Enough of the examples taken from the life of our nation. Let’s take a look at ourselves. If we also—which is certainly not the case—were entirely free of the particular manifestation of the murderous spirit that we find among the capitalists and workers, the abortionists and the secret societies, the lynchers, etc., we still stand before the Law of God judged as murderers. The Scriptures say (1 John 3:15): “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” Indeed, the wrath that rises in our hearts against the neighbor is murder before God. The desires that we have to harm our neighbor are murderous in God’s sight. Luther is quite right in his explication of the Gospel on the Sixth Sunday after Trinity regarding the sin against the Fifth Commandment: “Now whether indeed one grade is worse than another, still all of it—the lowest as much as the highest—is sin against this (Fifth) commandment. Thus whoever merely bears loathing in his heart, anger or disfavor against another, is a murderer before God.” May this act of murder, which has thrown all of us citizens of this land into horror and travail, remind us all precisely of this. And may we recognize and confess that we all would burn in hell as murderers if the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did not cleanse us also from the sin of murder.

A completely wretched spectacle has played out right before our eyes in the murder of our president. Something that should humble and lead a people to repentance is used for self-glorification. “You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent” (Jeremiah 5:3). But we throw ourselves in the dust before God and say:

Christ, Thou Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us! Christ, Thou Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us! Christ, Thou Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us Thy peace!

Amen.

"At Home in the House of My Fathers," p. 612

"Send us a faithful Shepherd"

"Send us a faithful Shepherd"

Prelude to Wyneken in Ft. Wayne

Adam Wesel on the Death of Jesse Hoover[1]

[Image is of Zion Friedheim]

Translated by Ed Suelflow with Matthew Harrison

“At the 1839 Convention of the German-Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Pennsylvania, its Missionary Society met. The executive committee reported that in the latter part of 1838, Missionary Kohler had decided to accept a call in Eastern Pennsylvania, and thus was unavailable for continued service in the West. During the Summer of 1838, an open letter from Adam Wesel, Elder at Fort Wayne, likely reached their hands. Dated June 4th and sent to at least the Synod of the West and C. E. Schmidt, editor of the Lutherische Kirchenzeitung.” Robert Smith, Wyneken as Missionary in Let Christ Be Christ: Theology, Ethics & World Religions in the Two Kingdoms. Daniel N. Harmelink, ed. Huntington Beach, CA: Tentatio Press, 1999. 321-340.

Fort Wayne, June 4^th, 1838

I write with tears in my eyes and with a trembling hand to inform you that on May 23, at 8 o’clock in the morning, it pleased the almighty Lord of life and death to call into eternity our beloved Pastor, J[esse]. Hoover, at the age of 28.[2] The deceased was bedridden for about 12 days, but had been in failing health for a longer period. Nevertheless, he pursued his calling with tireless zeal, for nothing, even in his illness, was more dear to him than his congregation. I visited him several times. When I visited him the first time in the company of several brothers, he asked me to read, for his personal edification, a chapter from the Bible. We read the 4^th chapter of Acts, after which we prayed, and then we departed. When I visited him the next time, his illness had progressed to the point where he could no longer converse. On the morning of his death he did not recognize me. He died a blessed death, completely in the faith.

We buried him, our teacher, with love and thanksgiving, according to German order [Ordnung]. In the church the congregation sang: “After Trial-Shortened Days.”[3] The procession following the casket was greater than had ever been seen in Ft. Wayne – a tribute to the love and esteem in which he was held, even by the enemies of Christianity and the Church. He was a good man. At the grave we sang the hymn: “All Men Living Are But Mortal.”[4] After this I encouraged the congregation to remain unified so we will not be destroyed. The funeral sermon was preached in English by Mr. Baal, a Methodist minister, because no German preacher lived within miles of this area. If an English Pastor had died, it might have been possible for someone else to fulfill that duty. There is no one here among the German immigrants to preach the words of eternal life. For that reason, have pity, honored fathers and brothers and send us a Pastor. Not only the congregation in Ft. Wayne, but also a seemingly strong congregation in Adams County, Indiana mourns the loss of the deceased.[5] If you canvas the northern part of Indiana you will soon see how important it is that you send us a faithful Shepherd. The harvest is great but unfortunately there are no workers. If it is not possible to send us a Pastor, dear brothers, then send us a circuit rider [Reiseprediger]. We hunger and thirst for the Word of God.

We heard that it was resolved at the conference in 1837 to hold the next conference in Ft. Wayne. I hope you do not change your resolve because Pr. Hoover has been called from us. Coming here you would be better able to assess our situation.

Remember us in your prayers, and cause a sigh to ascend the throne of grace in our behalf that the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ Himself might build us up and encourage us in our most holy faith, and comfort us with His help, and may the Holy Spirit sustain us. Greet all the brothers in Christ Jesus. Grace, peace, and blessing to the members of the honorable Synod.

Written by order of the church council at Ft. Wayne. Adam Wesel

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[1] Lutherische Kirchenzeitung Und Allgemeines Schulblatt, Easton, [Pennsylvania] 15^th of November, 1838.

[2] “The Reverend Jesse Hoover, a Lutheran minister from Woodstock, Canada, arrived in town in 1837 and became the first teacher in the new Presbyterian school. He also organized the first Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne and served as its first pastor. Adam Wefel [Sic] and Henry Trier served as elders, and Henry Rudisill and Conrad Nill as deacons. Two years later the congregation began construction of a church on the site of the present St. Paul's Lutheran Church.” FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN FORT WAYNE. Reprinted from an original paper published by the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society (1959).

“Rev’d Hoover came to Fort Wayne in 1836 and became the first pastor of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church (later named St. Paul’s), founded under Henry Rudisill’s leadership on October 14, 1837. Pastor Hoover kept the church records in English and although he normally preached in German, he occasionally preached in English, believing it would help his German-speaking members to become “American Lutherans.” Hoover was a successful and popular pastor. “Men and women would walk on Sundays, even eight and sometimes twelve miles, to hear him preach. He preached in English to all denominations in the morning; when the English congregation was dismissed, we would see the Germans in their native dress pouring in crowds.” Although Hoover died suddenly on 24 May 1838 at the age of only 28, he had firmly established a bilingual congregation. Unfortunately, bilingual clergymen like Hoover were rare and he was replaced by Fredrich Konrad Dietrich Wyneken who spoke only German and had been born and educated in Germany. Wyneken wanted to reinstate the old confessional and liturgical Lutheranism and he drove the Methodist and Reformed from the church by excluding them from Holy Communion. Other members, including Henry Rudisill, became disenchanted with Wyneken’s rejection of the more “American style” of Lutheranism, and Wyneken resigned in 1844. He was replaced by Wilhelm Sihler, who was even more anti-American Lutheran than his predecessor! Once again the church split. “The issues of doctrine, liturgy and language were substantial: if Sihler was determined to turn his congregation back to 16th century Lutheranism, Rudisill was equally determined to restore his remnant to 19th Century American Lutheranism.” So Henry Rudisill and some other members decided to form an English- speaking congregation, without alienating any of the numerous Germans who patronized his mill and supported his leadership in the Democratic Party. Too, Sihler knew how popular Rudisill was with the congregation and he did not want to alienate his supporters who remained with the German congregation. Among the charter members of the new congregation were many Rudisills: Henry, Emmanuel, Susannah, Elizabeth, Henry J., Ann and Sarah. The last Rudisill trustees of the new church were listed in 1868: Emmanuel Rudisill and Henry J. Rudisill. The new church was called Trinity English Lutheran Church [now ELCA]. Relations, Newsletter of the Rudisill Family Foundation Inc. No. 7, December, 2007, p. 4.

[3] Nach einer Prüfung kurzer Tage

erwartet uns die Ewigkeit.

Dort, dort verwandelt sich die Klage

in göttliche Zufriedenheit.

Hier übt die Tugend ihren Fleiß

und jene Welt reicht ihr den Preis.

--Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, 1715-1769.

English:

After a Test of but short Days

we so await Eternity

There, there, the Lament, so it changes

in god-ly Content-ment

Here their Flesh practices Virtue

and yon World richly theirs in Praise

--tr. Russell Davis

[4]Alle Menschen müssen sterben,

alles Fleisch vergeht wie Heu,

was da lebet, muss verderben, soll es anders werden neu.

Dieser Leib, der muss verwessen,

wenn er ewig soll genesen

der so grossen Herrlichkeit,

die den Frommen ist bereit.

Johann Albinus 1652

English:

Hark! a voice saith, all are mortal,

Yea, all flesh must fade as grass,

Only through Death's gloomy portal,

To a better life ye pass,

And this body formed of clay

Here must languish and decay,

Ere it rise in glorious might,

Fit to dwell with saints in light.

--Tr. C. Winkworth

[5] The reference is to Zion Lutheran, Friedheim, near Ft. Wayne. Smith (op. cit.) notes:"Wyneken arrived at the settlement of Friedheim, near Decatur, on September 20th. The first German he met in Indiana received the missionary with suspicion. "If you are an honest pastor, then go to that house over there. A very sick man lies in it," the woodman challenged. "If you are something else, like most pastors coming from Germany, then go over there to the rich wagonmaker!" “Nevertheless, I'd love to see the sick man first,” Wyneken quipped and then carried through. At this sick man's home, he learned of Karl Friedrich Buuck, the leader of Jesse Hoover's Adams County congregation and the pastor's future father-in-law.51 Wyneken ministered in the area for six days before riding north along the Decatur Road to visit Fort Wayne and New Haven.

In 1838, Fort Wayne was a small but growing town on the Wabash-Erie Canal. This community of fifteen hundred sat at the portage between the Wabash and Maumee rivers, the only passage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. At the summit, overlooking the merger of the Maumee's two sources, Fort Wayne was the focal point of the effort to create a continent-wide water transportation system. By 1837, the Wabash-Erie Canal was complete to Logansport, a growing community on the Michigan Road. This road stretched north to South Bend and Michigan City and south to Indianapolis, Madison and the Ohio River.

Due to this geography, Fort Wayne grew in spite of a depression that followed the Panic of 1837. The Northeast corner of Indiana quickly became a destination of choice for German emigrants in search of a new home.53 Fort Wayne was an ideal location for a circuit rider charged to 'gather scattered Protestants.'”

"Missouri must be open..." Sasse

Erlangen, November 8, 1948

Rathsberger Str. 4

Highly Honored Dr. Sieck [President of Concordia Seminary]!

…Missouri must be open, more open than its fathers in the acknowledgement of all those who are confessionally true Lutherans in other churches. But it must unconditionally maintain the doctrinal content of the Formula of Concord, and not allow the confession to become a matter of form as happened in Germany and unfortunately also in the Nordic countries… I myself, against the council of Herr Doctors Graebner and Mayer, on the eve of my departure from St. Louis, have now left the territorial church for the free church (Breslau). That was a decision of conscience, which was necessitated by Bavaria’s joining EKiD… My ecclesiastical work is over… My students now proceed with wife and child into misery, and so must I also go.[1] I hope that for me the wandering about finding closed doors will find one open in Australia, before it is too late…

Hermann Sasse

---

[1] This at first rather odd comment is repeated often by Sasse. He means that he feels responsible for the plight and difficulty of his students who suffer the consequences of the theology Sasse taught them. MH

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

I did an interview several years ago with Todd Wilken on "Issues Etc." on why bad things happen.

Find a transcript of that discussion HERE.

Pastor H.

Sermon for the Funeral of F.C.D. Wyneken, at St. Paul’s, Ft. Wayne.

May 15, 1876

Dr. Wilhelm Sihler

Translated by Rev. Karl Boehmer

Wilhelm Sihler’s funeral sermon for Wyneken was one of several. He died on May 4^th in San Francisco, a week short of his sixty-sixth birthday. He had traveled from Cleveland to reside with his daughter’s family, hoping the climate would improve his health. On the 6^th in San Francisco there was a very emotional funeral at which Wyeneken’s son-in-law, Pastor Buehler, preached. The next morning, as Lindemann (A Biographical Sketch of… F.C.D. Wyneken, CTS 1995, p. 51) recounts, Mrs. Wyneken and her son-in-law left for St. Louis, accompanying the body. They arrived on what would have been Wyneken’s sixty-sixth birthday, the evening of the 13^th. The next day, C.F.W. Walther preached a funeral sermon at Trinity where the body was on view. The sermon text was I Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Walther’s sermon manuscript does not appear to have survived. As Lindemann recounts, the body arrived in Ft. Wayne on the 15^th. A procession of pastors, students and members of St. Paul’s escorted the casket into the church. Dr. Sihler preached. He had followed Wyneken as pastor of St. Paul’s in 1845. On the 16^th Wyneken’s wife and son-in-law arrived with the body in Cleveland. The final funeral was held at 2:00 p.m. with an overflowing crowd.

I discovered the scribbled manuscript for this sermon in the papers of Wilhelm Sihler in Concordia Historical Institute. William Wangelin transcribed the virtually illegible and abbreviated notes of Sihler. Karl Boehmer provided a masterful translation. The sermon follows an article in English taken from the Ft. Wayne Morning Gazette, Thursday, May 18, 1876, p.

Matt Harrison

Rev. Wyneken

Sketch of His Useful and Eventful Life

An unusual spectacle was witnessed in Fort Wayne on Monday morning last – that of a funeral procession at 6:30 o’clock in the morning. The St. Louis train on the Wabash road, due at that time, brought the remains of the late Rev. Frederick Wyneken from San Francisco, California. Eight gentlemen that had been members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in this city more than thirty years ago, when Mr. Wyneken was its pastor, acted as pall-bearers, and conveyed the corpse, which was followed by a large number of our German citizens and the professors and students of Concordia College to the Rev. Dr. Sihler’s church. The casket containing the remains was placed in front of the altar and hundreds of the friends of the beloved pastor and friend took a last sad look upon all that was mortal of a man than whom none was more devotedly loved, or whose loss is more deeply mourned.

At 10 o’clock the funeral services were opened, the Rev. Stubnatzi[1] and Sihler officiating. The venerable Dr. Sihler, who was the successor of Mr. Wyneken in the ministry at St. Paul’s church in this city, delivered an eloquent and touching sermon, taking for his text, Proverbs 10:7, “The memory of the just is blessed.” The venerable doctor, alluded to the life and character of the distinguished and good man whose loss the vast congregation had met to mourn. He said substantially: “We have met this morning upon an occasion both joyful and sorrowful. We have reasons for rejoicing, when we think of our deceased friend and venerable father in Christ, who, after having labored earnestly and faithfully in the vineyard of Christ for almost forty years, now has received his reward and gone to his heavenly rest. We are created by God, and can be really happy in Him and through Him alone. Through faith in Jesus he possessed this happiness in this life, but was waiting or the perfection in the life to come. The language of the Psalmist, ‘I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I trust,’ was his also. Many times and oft he longed to depart, for then he would be with the Lord. Now his hopes are realized. He has fought the good fight and finished his course – he has kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness. And for his sake we praise the Lord and rejoice. This is indeed a joyful occasion; but it is also one of sorrow, if we turn our eyes from him upon ourselves. His gain has been a loss, not only to his congregation in Cleveland [Trinity], where he labored so faithfully for the past eleven years for the glory of God and the spiritual welfare of his fellow-man; but elsewhere has he been faithful to his Master. The greater part of his life has been devoted to the service of his beloved Lord.”

Mr. Wyneken was born in the Kingdom of Hanover [at Verden] in 1811, and immigrated to this country while yet a young man. In 1834 he came to Ohio, and for four years was an itinerant preacher in that and the state of Pennsylvania.[2] In 1838 he came to this State, and was first active in preaching the Gospel to the poor scattered German Lutherans in Adams County; but he soon came to Ft. Wayne and became minister to this congregation, and so continued for seven years. Some few of you have sat under his instructions. I say some few of you, for Death has moved the larger number. While here he was indefatigable in continuing his missionary work in every direction, and gathered material for many a congregation. He cheerfully shared the hardships and poverty of his people – aye, oftentimes gave away his all to help others.

In 1841 he was compelled, through a disease of his throat, to suspend his work and seek recuperation in Germany. Whilst there his love of Christ induced him to publish an appeal to the German candidates for the ministry and others interested in the mission work of the Lutheran church to go to the United States and assist in the great work there. A great number of men came over in consequence of his touching appeal, and are now members of the Missouri Synod.

His family also suffer a great loss. He leaves a mourning widow and eleven children, six sons and five daughters. Two of his sons are in the ministry, and three daughters married to ministers. He was a good husband and a kind father, even after his children were grown up, he remained their constant friend, counselor and advisor. But the Lutheran church is the greater loser by the death of this excellent man. The public services which he rendered the church were very great. For fourteen years he occupied the important position of President of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, in the United States. He was a man of peculiarly sound judgment, and a man full of wisdom and piety, and consequently well fitted to fulfill the arduous duties his exalted position imposed upon him. Truly the removal of such a servant of God is a great loss to the church.

Need mention be made of his personal characteristics, his kindness towards every body, his liberality amidst all his poverty, his sincerity and openheartedness, unfeigned humility? All know this who knew him. He had his weaknesses also, but he knew them best himself. He always renounced al dependence upon himself, upon his merits, his wisdom, and as a poor sinner he clung and clove inseparably to Christ and His merit. With this unwavering trust, that the gracious Lord whom he had served his lifetime, had accepted him and would receive him into rest and peace and joy and glory. He was fully prepared when Death met him, on the 4^th of the present month, at San Francisco, wither he had gone to recuperate his health. May the memory of our venerable friend be an abiding blessing to this former congregations, to his family, to the church - aye, to each and very one of us.

The remains left on Monday evening for Cleveland, Ohio, where they will be placed in a vault, ultimately we hope, to be removed to Fort Wayne for interment.[3]

Sermon held on May 15, 1876 in memory of the late Pastor Friedrich Wyneken, who fell asleep on the 4^th of this month in San Francisco at the age of 66.

Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. [ESV]

1. An occasion both joyous and sad has gathered us here today.

2. It is joyous because it has pleased God to let his faithful servant enter that rest which has been promised to the people of God, after he had served Him for almost 40 years in his church here in this part of the world. For now is fulfilled the longing he surely often shared with David, [written in] Palms 42, “As a deer pants etc.” For the heart and mind of all true Christian believers always yearn for the sight of God, because we were originally created by God to God, and we can only attain complete satisfaction and salvation in God, that is, in the blessed sight of God, in the closest fellowship of life and love with Him. It has also been fulfilled for [Pastor Wyneken], that is, according to his soul, what he surely often said in the words of the apostle: “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord,”[4] for here “we walk by faith, not by sight.”[5] – How should we not rejoice in spirit that the innermost desire of his believing soul, and its most fervent longing, have now been completely and eternally fulfilled? He has passed from death to life[6], after he had bravely and valiantly fought the good fight of faith against devil, world and flesh for more than four decades.

3. This same occasion that has gathered us here today is also a sad one for us all, for what has become his gain, namely that his soul has gone home from this land of exile, has become our loss, and especially:

a. For his congregation, whom he bore in the love of Christ with a fatherly heart. To him had particularly been given those who mourn in Zion,[7] that he should comfort those who experience tribulation [Anfechtung] because of their faith with that comfort with which the Holy Spirit had first comforted his heart from the Holy Scriptures and at times from the words of Luther. For because he was called to comfort more and more believers in tribulation [Anfechtung] by means of the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith in Christ, he himself had to also undergo more and more tribulation [Anfechtung]. And this comforting, which makes the heart of a believer joyful and of good cheer by means of the Gospel, through faith in Christ and the righteousness of God, he surely often had to administer faithfully and diligently for almost 40 years, first as an itinerant preacher in Pennsylvania and Ohio, then in Baltimore for 5 years, subsequently for 4 years in St Louis, and after stepping down from his office as president of synod, for another 10 years in Cleveland West.[8]

b. For his family, 6 sons and 5 daughters, who are now mostly grown and either hold a certain occupation or (as daughters) are married. The loss is hardest for his wife, with whom he lived, as far as I know, for 35 years in unspoiled marital joy and close communion. Because of him and the children, she came to know that we have no lasting city on earth,[9] because 5 times…[10]

… bound up and contributed to the advancement and encouragement of this gathering of the saints.

4. To all this must be added his endearing joyfulness, authenticity and the ease with which he communicated on a personal level; furthermore, his tirelessly active love and generosity (even in the time of his poverty towards members and others who were even poorer than he was), his decency, purity, his forthrightness, his heartfelt and sincere humility and self-denial – in short, he was a man of God, who gave the impression always and everywhere he went, both in and outside the church, that he only had in mind the glory of God and whatever served the good of his neighbor, both in and outside his congregation. In particular he loved his Lord, loved Him who had died and risen for him, and nothing was further from his mind than to seek his own advantage in terms of money, honor and luxury.

5. What was the reason that he always showed himself to be an approved worker[11]? That he was a teacher who turned many to righteousness, as Daniel says,[12] so that many a Christian has him to thank for his conversion to Christ? What was the reason for his faithfulness and ability as pastoral caregiver in comforting the brokenhearted and those in tribulation [Anfechtung]? What was the reason that in governing his household he was a loving husband and an affectionate, yet firm father? What was the reason that he had at conferences and synodical gatherings such an evangelical perspective, that he contributed in such measure to the rejuvenation and encouragement of the others, especially in earlier times? Other than his natural and spiritual gifts, the reason was most certainly this: That he clung in faith only and alone to the grace of his God and Savior, that he sat at the feet of the Word of God, and although weak in himself, became strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might against all tribulations [Anfechtungen].

6. And so it was the power of this Word and his simple, child-like faith, that while he suffered for many years from heart trouble and chest constrictions, throughout his severe illness he was able to overcome the occasional strong attacks and quiet his heart by means of the third petition.

7. Because of the nature of his enduring illness it was likely that he would depart quickly for his eternal home when the Lord’s hour came. And so it was; after his congregation had given him leave for an undetermined period, he had gone to California, and while he was preparing to return, in San Francisco on the fourth of this month, he suddenly fell asleep in Christ because of a stroke.

8. What shall I say now, I who had been in brotherly union with the faithful departed for thirty-one years?[13] I shall say what our text says: The memory of the righteous is a blessing.

9. A blessing will be his remembrance in all congregations and everywhere he had preached earlier, places where he had preached for almost forty years the Word of God and most especially the dear and most precious Gospel of Christ; that he publicly and in a unique manner, as a blessed instrument of God, helped many a soul to turn from sin to righteousness, from curse to blessing, from death to life, from condemnation to salvation.

10. A blessing will be his remembrance in his household, where he serves his diligent widow as an example of childlike faith that she follow and now cling all the more firmly and fervently to the One who remains her spiritual husband, sit at her Savior’s feet, cast all her cares upon Him, and at the same time quietly and cheerfully rest in his love and care as a child in his mother’s lap. A blessing will be without a doubt his remembrance to his sons and sons-in-law, who also stand in the service of the church, that they follow in his zeal to save and preserve the sheep of Christ in fervent love for every soul that has been bought at a price through the blood of Christ, that they as faithful and shrewd managers give in evangelical wisdom to each member of the household his due, with self-denial, humility and enduring patience. And in this fine, princely virtue his remembrance will serve as a blessing for his other children following in his footsteps, for them, his sons and daughters.

11. His remembrance will be no less a blessing to all the servants of the church and the teachers of the institutions of our synod, with whom he had first been in close contact, and later on in brotherly union at synod and at conferences, for there will hardly be a single one who cannot gratefully ascribe to him diligent encouragement, refreshment and advancement for his spiritual life and his undertakings in the office.

12. That the dearly departed also had his particular weaknesses and foibles because of the corruption of his flesh, which every Christian has to contend with all his life, is something he knew better than anyone else. For he had an exceptionally tender and restrictive conscience, also and especially with regard to his weakness, and so he would probably often have sighed with the apostle, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?[14]

13. This complaint and cry for help that he had in common with all true believers has now been completely and graciously answered for him, so that he can now say: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord![15], for he is now perfect, pure, holy and righteous, without any fault or blemish of sin, placed almost completely in the sight of Christ. He has recovered, according to his soul, the divine image and can never lose it again; in seeing God he has received eternal life.

14. And in the Kingdom of Glory, on the Day of the joyous resurrections, his transfigured body will not lack a distinctive radiance, for it is written in Daniel 12, The teachers shall shine like the radiance of heaven[16] etc. He surely did not belong to those who sowed sparingly in teaching and in life, but to those who did it bountifully;[17] and accordingly, he will reap in blessing and be well supplied from the Lord, who repays righteously; for although eternal life is always a pure gift from God by through Christ alone by faith without any merit, which the dearly departed also shared in through the true faith in Christ, according to the Word of Christ, Whoever believes in me has eternal life[18]: Nevertheless, God has promised a distinct reward of grace and repayment according to the labor of love, the work of faith and the patience under the cross.

15. May the gracious and merciful God help all of us, both those dear ones who are now without a shepherd as well as us, the brothers of our dear brother and father in Christ that we, like him, would continue in the true faith and blessed trust, so that we also, when our last hour shall come, will have a joyous departure from this vale of sorrows to that place where there is no more sadness, no pain, no sighing and no tears, but only eternal joy and gladness upon the heads of the saints. Then we shall break out in unceasing praise and thanksgiving to our faithful God and join the holy angels in saying, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing![19]

---

[1] Wolfgang Simon Stubnatzy (February 15, 1829 – September 13, 1880), was born in Fuerth, Franconia, Bavaria. He was sent to the U.S. by Loehe in 1847 and finished his education at the Ft. Wayne Seminary. He served as pastor at Cooper’s Grove, Cook, County, Illinois (1849-1862); and then as assistant to Wilhelm Sihler at St. Paul’s in Ft. Wayne. In 1868 he became pastor of Emmanuel, Ft. Wayne. He served as president of the Central District from 1878-1880 (following Scwhan’s election to the Synod Presidency). Luth. Cyclop., p. 739.

[2] The obituary is inaccurate at this point. Wyenekn arrived in Baltimore in July 1838 and was serving St. Paul’s Ft. Wayne by the last week in September. The same inaccurate time-line is presented by Sihler in the sermon.

[3] Wyneken was in fact buried in Cleveland.

[4] 2Cor 5:8.

[5] 2Cor 5:7.

[6] Jn 5:24.

[7] Isa 61:3.

[8] NB Sihler here points out that Wyneken had to temporarily return to Germany In 1841( because of throat trouble).

[9] Heb 13:14.

[10] It would seem that a line or a thought is missing from the sermon at this point.

[11] 2Ti 2:15.

[12] Dan 12:3.

[13] Wyneken and Sihler had corresponded, but met face to face in February 1845. Sihler had already been called by the Ft. Wayne congregation as Wyneken’s replacement. Wyneken traveled through Pomeroy to meet Sihler, as he made his way to assume his new duties as pastor in Baltimore. Lindemann, A Biographical Sketch, etc., p. 18.

[14] Rom 7:24.

[15] Rom 7:25.

[16] Dan 12:3.

[17] 2Co 9:6.

[18] Jn 6:47.

[19] Rev 5:12.